(Jewish Chronicle-UK) Alan Dershowitz - The International Court of Justice did the right thing by refusing to enjoin Israel from conducting its military operation against Hamas. Even if an injunction had been issued, Israel would have justifiably ignored it. But the court gave Israel a yellow light to proceed, requiring it to report back in a month on its efforts to prevent its soldiers from committing genocide. But Israel's soldiers were not committing genocide. They were fighting in the same way that the U.S. and Britain fought urban warfare against terrorist groups. Israeli soldiers do not need to be lectured about not doing something they would never do. A nation bent on genocide does not put its soldiers at risk by warning the other side about its intended military targets. Nor does it provide humanitarian corridors for the provision of food, medicine and other necessities. There have been fewer civilian deaths in Gaza, and a lower ratio of civilian to combatant causalities, than in any modern war in history. It is Hamas who should be lectured about its multiple war crimes: using hospitals, schools and mosques to protect its fighters, rockets and tunnels. But the ICJ did not order Hamas to do or stop doing anything. Unless the ICJ addresses the Hamas war crimes, it will deserve no respect. The writer is professor emeritus at Harvard Law School.
2024-01-29 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive